Mighty Jack and the Goblin King: 01/14/21

Mighty Jack and the Goblin King by Ben Hatke is the sequel to Mighty Jack (2016). With Jack and Lilly climbing up the remains of their garden, one can expect a variation on the Jack and the Bean Stalk tale. The goal, here, though, isn't a golden egg laying goose, it's the rescue of Maddy, Jack's sister.

The title meanwhile implies that Jack will be going head to head with the Goblin King. Instead, there's a turn of events that gives Lilly a chance to be the hero. This is the volume where Lilly gets to shine and show off the skills she was hinted at having in the first volume.

This volume ends up being an homage of sorts to Labyrinth if it had been directed or designed by Terry Gilliam. Maddy takes the place of Toby, except she's much older and potentially more capable of taking action than an almost toddler. She's there to recharge the castle and continues to be little more than a prop in the form of a selectively mute maiden in distress.

Like the first book, volume two sits on the road narrative spectrum. Where the first one is fantasy because of the sibling travelers, this one is horror because of the change in traveler. While Jack's goal is still to reunite with Maddy, his sister, and while she has also traveled (via kidnapping) to this other world, the travelers with any sort of agency are Jack and Lilly. Together they work as a couple (33), though not as a romantic one.

The goal or destination for both is home (66). It's to return home. In the case of Jack and Maddy, it's also to save their home from foreclosure. Their route, is once again the cornfield. It's a metaphoric one, represented by the seeds they use and the vine they climb.

The third book is Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl (2019).

Four stars

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